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Scotland and London Surge Ahead in Education Levels
New research from the Learning and Work Institute reveals a growing UK skills divide, with Scotland and London surging ahead while regions like East Yorkshire lag behind.
The UK has larger gaps in workforce skills between different parts of the country than most other European countries, finds new research from Learning and Work Institute (L&W).
Two-thirds of people in Scotland will have a degree by 2035, compared to just 29% in UK regions such as East Yorkshire, fuelling a growing skills divide across the UK, warns the Learning and Work Institute.
The Institute’s latest report highlights that economic growth in the UK is at risk due to a stark skills divide among regions, with London and the South-East continuing to attract highly qualified workers, leaving other regions trailing behind in educational attainment.
If the trend continues, by 2035, 71% of Londoners and 65% of adults in Scotland are estimated to hold a degree, compared to just 29% in East Yorkshire and 39% in Norfolk.
These skills gaps are far wider than in neighbouring countries. Another 290,000 people, the equivalent of the population of Coventry, would have GCSE-equivalent qualifications in the West Midlands if the UK had lower inequality like in Denmark, France and Sweden.
L&W warns that, far from improving, the UK’s skill disparity woes are on track to get worse over the next decade.
Closing the gap between London and the rest of the UK would require 4.1 million more people to gain higher education qualifications outside London. These findings therefore present a challenge for the Government: the missing four million graduates risk holding back economies outside London, given how skills are key for improving productivity, for business success, and for people’s job and career opportunities.
The new report warns that improving skills in an area on its own will not be enough, however. Most areas already lose graduates to a small number of cities like London, Leeds, Bristol and Brighton; even with a step change in skills provision, people in low-skill areas who gain new qualifications may continue to follow the better-paid jobs into these areas. L&W argues that efforts to improve skills therefore need to be joined up with efforts to improve jobs and opportunities across the country.
The independent policy and research organisation’s report is the second produced as part of its Ambition Skills project. This programme, supported by City & Guilds and NOCN, is looking at the UK’s skills base and how to improve it to grow the economy and widen opportunity.
The Government has said it will publish a post-16 skills strategy and provide more details of its planned Growth and Skills Levy, reforming the current apprenticeship levy paid by large employers, in early 2025. It has also asked local government and mayors across England to draw up growth strategies, and will hold a spending review in spring 2025.
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L&W argues that all these efforts need to be joined up and have skills at their heart. Any new strategy will need to tackle the £1 billion cut in Government investment in skills in England since 2010 and the 26% fall in employer investment in training since 2005.
